METALS is a one-year, interdisciplinary masters program that trains graduate students to apply evidence-based research in learning to create effective instruction and educational technologies within formal and informal settings such as schools, workplaces, and museums.
The professional program culminates with a seven-month capstone project for an external client. Guided by industry and faculty mentors in this team-based research and development project, students experience the end-to-end process of a product cycle from idea through prototyping.
The METALS program is a union of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and the Department of Psychology which brings significant value to the program. We strongly believe that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that we can all learn from each other. As such, many of the degrees offered by Carnegie Mellon are interdisciplinary. In that regard, METALS is not unique. However, METALS not only intersects Psychology and HCII but it is at the crossroads of cognitive science, statistics, computer science, education and design.
To understand how people learn, our students are trained in applying cognitive science methods to map learning objectives to sub-objectives and finally to well-designed instructional activities. To continuously improve instruction, we need to collect and analyze student progress. To do that our students learn how to use statistics to analyze extremely large data sets (data analytics). These analyses drive continuous improvement. To create effective online educational courseware, our students need to understand at least the basics of tutor creation. We teach our students to use software engineering techniques to create these tutors. We teach our students how to design an appropriate curriculum using the latest theories.
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Application Deadline: December 15

METALS is a two-year masters degree set into a 12-month duration. During the first and second semesters, students learn core knowledge and skills through courses in learning principles, technology design and implementation. During their second and third semesters, students teams collaborate on a substantial capstone project for an external client.

In this unique opportunity, METALS culminates with a seven-month capstone project for an external client. Guided by industry and faculty mentors in this team-based research and development project, students experience the end-to-end process of a product cycle from idea through prototyping.

Jointly taught by leading researchers in learning analytics, curriculum design, and educational data mining. Our faculty have collective expertise in computer science, psychology, cognitive science, and linguistics among others. As interdisciplinary program, we value the experience and perspectives that our diverse students possess.